May 6th: PM2019 109 - VS Kibana! A Fight with Masters Eight on the Line!!

[Gingertail24]

I'm wondering how they are gonna develop Riahan. It seems similar to the guzma treatment, but a bit worse since guzma had at least more than one episode. While they definitely established raihan wants to beat Leon, I'm bothered they are now delving into his insecurities and issue concerning his dream of beating Leon. I guess it's more like the Marnie situation. The wanpachi episode, while cute, should of been an ash and Leon episode.

 

[MartínK]

If we get Ash-Lucario I’m going to barf

Relax, they will synchronize via aura but there is no new Lucario form. Ash Greninja was a thing cuz there isn't a gen 6 mega besides Diancie and didn't want Ash to have other pokémon outside the gen

 

[Falconmaroni]

I'm wondering how they are gonna develop Riahan. It seems similar to the guzma treatment, but a bit worse since guzma had at least more than one episode. While they definitely established raihan wants to beat Leon, I'm bothered they are now delving into his insecurities and issue concerning his dream of beating Leon. I guess it's more like the Marnie situation. The wanpachi episode, while cute, should of been an ash and Leon episode.

Raihan has been in like 4 episodes before this.

 

[nuzamaki90]

3 vs 3 is perfect for one ep, that much i can agree on. The problem is when it’s a 3 vs 3 plus everything else.

Gyms in the past tend to have an episode before as set-up and have all the introduction and interaction there, so the fight ep can just be the fight. Here we already see ash heading to hammerlocke, camping, raihan’s flashback and angst with leon, plus the battle itself. Considering the minimal interaction ash had with raihan in the past, having all the pre-battle interaction in a seperate ep would let the fight shine more.

Eh I disagree on that. The Gym battles that had pre setup were mostly contained to DP and XY. People thought Ash VS Volkner was going to be a mess but then it turned out to be probably the best paced battle in Journeys so far. Using that episode as an example, the setup was contained to the intro of the episode, and any other banter/commentary was mixed in with the battle. Pacing wise, the Hyper Class battles have been handled very nicely so I don’t think this will be much different.

 

[Gingertail24]

Raihan has been in like 4 episodes before this.

Oh my bad. Yeah im remember now. But not that much tho. Has raihan had any meaningful dynamic with ash? My point was more on that now they are developing raihan it feels

 

[STICKTOPIA]

Yes!!!!!!! Dragonite, gengar, AND lucario in the same battle!!!!! Omg this just might be my favorite PWC battle yet!!!!

 

[Shneak]

So this battle will determine who is in the final 8 tournament? I'm surprised they're using Raihan now instead.

I like that they're still using Raihan's weather manipulation but don't love that it's another all dragon team. Also curious to see who the fall guy will be since Sirfetch'd/Dracovish aren't here.

 

[DayQuil95]

Lucario went from watching Gengar get destroyed and Dragonite carrying the team to participating in Gengar's destruction while carrying the team alongside Dragonite.

 

[Remix2]

It seems I was wrong about entry to the Master class being the same as the others, but I suppose it makes more sense this way. I still think it's a bit unfair that someone can get knocked down a class because someone got a win against someone else, but I guess it's easier to bounce back from a class of hundreds of people you can challenge freely than it is for a class of the top 8 trainers with battles organized in advance by the tournament officials.

Duraludon, Flygon, and Goodra are all excellent choices for Raihan's team and I'm glad Ash's big 3 are finally getting a chance to shine together. I can't believe it took this long for Lucario to battle alongside Dragonite unless I'm forgetting something. Unfortunately we all know Gengar is irrelevant here and will likely take an L, but will Dragonite's winstreak come to an end or will he be take the spotlight from Lucario and come out on top against his fellow Dragon type opponents.

Why is the animation for what should arguably be Ash's biggest match yet so bad? He's in the big leagues fighting what are said to be champion-tier trainers and we're still getting slideshows. Who thought it was a good idea to put Shinohara (unless my eyes are deceiving me), one of the worst animation directors who always brings chpppy animation, on something this important. He just worked on the Serena episode so why is he back so soon? Could they not schedule anyone else?

This episode coulda use someone like iwane/ohashi with yajima storyboarding but some reason there not on this episode despite them being the most talented people on journeys.

 

[Samurott]

It seems like there's too much to cover for this to be only one episode. We see in the preview Ash and Goh out camping and talking, Ash running towards Raihan's gym, plus there's the introductions that take place before the battle, which is 3 vs 3, in addition to focus on Lucario's results on training with Greninja. I can't imagine all of that happening in one episode without it being rushed.

I think it's a two parter, which explains why the animation looks off for an important battle, they're saving the good stuff for part two. Also, Lucario got a special focus episode before the Bea two parter, I can't imagine this being only one episode when this battle has much higher stakes.

 

[Blue Saturday]

Oh my bad. Yeah im remember now. But not that much tho. Has raihan had any meaningful dynamic with ash? My point was more on that now they are developing raihan it feels

Huh? Kibana acknowledged Satoshi as being the energetic kid from the audience and paid close attention to his battle against Poplar. Commenting how speedy his Pikachu was and being interested the whole time, seemed like obvs foreshadowing and setup for their future fight.


On another note, the roar Kibana made in the preview really makes you notice his new seiyuu.

 

[STICKTOPIA]

It seems like there's too much to cover for this to be only one episode. We see in the preview Ash and Goh out camping and talking, Ash running towards Raihan's gym, plus there's the introductions that take place before the battle, which is 3 vs 3, in addition to focus on Lucario's results on training with Greninja. I can't imagine all of that happening in one episode without it being rushed.

I think it's a two parter, which explains why the animation looks off for an important battle, they're saving the good stuff for part two. Also, Lucario got a special focus episode before the Bea two parter, I can't imagine this being only one episode when this battle has much higher stakes.

It does look like it’d be a two-parter, however we’ve seen how they rush the hell out of these battles. It could go either way.

 

[DayQuil95]

The animation isn't looking that good in the preview, sure, but it still looks good enough to be properly watchable, the shot of Dragonite using Dragon Claw on Flygon was pretty good, and with Weather Strategies this is looking up to be a potentially great fight as far as choreography and narrative goes. And that shot of Raihan battling was pretty damn good ngl.

 

[Gingertail24]

Huh? Kibana acknowledged Satoshi as being the energetic kid from the audience and paid close attention to his battle against Poplar. Commenting how speedy his Pikachu was and being interested the whole time, seemed like obvs foreshadowing and setup for their future fight.


On another note, the roar Kibana made in the preview really makes you notice his new seiyuu.

I'm not talking about foreshadowing of the fight that was obvious. I'm talking about now they are delving into his issue and insecurities with his goal of beating leon

 

[Nikinini]

Aside from the stupidly OP Articuno in that one episode, how many battles has Shillcario outright lost since its evolution?

Volkner, which is one of the two PWC battles it has been in since evolving.

 

[Ignition]

Eh I disagree on that. The Gym battles that had pre setup were mostly contained to DP and XY. People thought Ash VS Volkner was going to be a mess but then it turned out to be probably the best paced battle in Journeys so far. Using that episode as an example, the setup was contained to the intro of the episode, and any other banter/commentary was mixed in with the battle. Pacing wise, the Hyper Class battles have been handled very nicely so I don’t think this will be much different.

What do you define as pre setup?

 

[diakyu]

Dragonite baby I love you, but I need you to hold this L in favor of more Gengar Ws. You can do well against Cynthia later or something

 

[nuzamaki90]

What do you define as pre setup?

Characters meeting, interactions, establishment of the the competitors, resolves, etc. The training episode with Clemont was pre-setup for the Drasna battle.

 

[Ignition]

Characters meeting, interactions, establishment of the the competitors, resolves, etc. The training episode with Clemont was pre-setup for the Drasna battle.

Ok just wanted to make sure we’re on the same page. Ever since Wattson in AG, every Gym Leader has had at least one episode dedicated to meeting them (sometimes the match starts towards the end) but I know some people have different expectations when they think of pre setup. DP & XY did have the most focus on that front though (I’m assuming that’s what you mean).

Even though I would’ve like one of those episodes here, I’m at least fine with the fact that this is like our fourth time seeing Raihan.

 

[Rohanator]

3 vs 3 is perfect for one ep, that much i can agree on. The problem is when it’s a 3 vs 3 plus everything else.

Gyms in the past tend to have an episode before as set-up and have all the introduction and interaction there, so the fight ep can just be the fight. Here we already see ash heading to hammerlocke, camping, raihan’s flashback and angst with leon, plus the battle itself. Considering the minimal interaction ash had with raihan in the past, having all the pre-battle interaction in a seperate ep would let the fight shine more.

Gyms in the past also had Team Rocket segments lol. But yea fair enough point, though I doubt much time will be dedicated to non battle stuff here, I'd say 5 mins at most but we'll see.